Zach Goldbaum claims he isn’t a climate journalist. That’s because the Emmy-winning host of the climate-centered, true-crime podcast Lawless Planet didn’t enter the eco-journalism sphere through any traditional route; he broke in through comedy. This background helps him make climate stories more accessible, by “finding a different entry point” for broaching complex issues. He also makes a point to put a human face on the stories he tells of unique environmental challenges across the globe.
When he started planning the podcast, Zach realized storytelling about climate change did not often center on people. “It made the issues abstract and difficult to comprehend.” Human stories are a good entry point to talk about big, complicated issues, he contends. “We don’t talk enough about why the climate crisis. We, of course, talk about burning fossil fuels, but not the people, the decisions, and the crimes that are fueling the crisis.”
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Read on to learn more about Zach’s approach to honest journalism, driving social change, and why he believes centering the climate crisis in the stories of everyday people is an essential form of advocacy.
What drew you to storytelling about the environment?
I was working on a Comedy Central docuseries, and we did a climate story down in the Bayou Basin, a beautiful swamp in southern Louisiana. We were with these activists who were trying to stop the construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Developers were just digging up this stunning, otherworldly ecosystem down there. The story drew me in. The podcast was born out of that.
Why do a podcast versus another medium?
Podcasts are great because the barrier of entry is much lower. Lawless Planet is really a crime show that people get excited about, and then, we sneak in a bunch of important conversations about the environment. A podcast is great for explaining some of these more complex ideas around climate because there’s a little more malleability. I have a lot of fun in the show. I use comedy, crime storytelling, and music to help set the scene. We just have a bigger pallet to work with.
What do you wish was different about how the media generally covers climate change?
A lot of media has an obsession with objectivity, but objectivity is not the same as truth. In an effort to be objective, you can start giving credence to ideas that have no merit. It goes so far that sometimes the media says, I’m so objective that I’m going to hear from both sides of every issue even if one side of the issue is acting in bad faith. Exxon and other fossil fuel companies fund opposition research with the sole purpose of muddying the waters. From a reporting perspective when you allow them to muddy the waters, that’s just bad reporting. That’s not objectivity.
I would like to see more honest journalism. I’ve sat and grappled with this in writing pieces or episodes, asking myself, Where do we give the company voice, or where do we say this person disagrees? Where’s the line? It’s a balancing act.
Do you think journalism has the power to drive tangible policy change?
Good reporting can absolutely drive social change. Journalism raised awareness about the ozone layer. Now, the ozone layer is largely repaired. That’s a huge win for the environment. That shows us that it can be done when there’s the marriage of social movements, journalism, and good governance. Those all have to work in tandem for there to be meaningful change, but journalism is a critical piece of that puzzle.
What’s your favorite episode so far?
One of my favorite episodes is “Operation Wasteland,” about the New York trash mafia. It was the most fun to make because it’s a funny corner of the climate crisis. It’s fun to tell stories that veer away from what you would imagine a climate or environmental story to be about.
We also did a story where we worked closely with a journalist in Gaza to cover the decades-long energy crisis there. To give voice to people who are living in the most abject situation imaginable and contextualize the way these environmental issues connect to many other things was really fulfilling.
Those two episodes couldn’t be further from one another, but an achievement of the show is how big it is. Climate stories can feel narrow and cause people to be disinterested, but if you say it’s a mafia story or conflict story in the Middle East that touches the climate, you might be interested. These larger stories connect us to the natural world. Every story touches on the climate because this problem touches everything.
What do you hope listeners take away from Lawless Planet?
I hope that people start thinking about this not just as a scientific problem but as a human problem. I’d like people to have a little bit of hope listening to these episodes. Yes, they should be frustrated and outraged. It should spur all those feelings, but I also hope that it reframes in people’s minds how we got here and what we can do about it. The answer being good governance and reining in corporate power.
Climate change is a problem so big that it feels overwhelming, but there are corners of the problem that are addressable, and they come down to the decisions of certain people. I hope we can both raise the alarm and not perpetuate any gloom and doom because the solutions are actionable. Looking at it as a tangible political problem as opposed to an overwhelming issue that is unsolvable is what I would hope people get out of each individual episode.
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